The Tanks have Arrived

Friends: Yesterday was an incredible day on site. At 11:00am our three beautiful tanks, fresh off the factory line in Sacramento from American Tank Company, were delivered to our site.

We have 14000 gallons of storage capacity at the site. Each tank will get fed from three different roof levels and will purpose three different funtions: toilet feed and roof irrigation for our vegetative roof.

The tanks are absolutely beautiful--and as soon as they came to the site and were placed, the image of the ecocenter was sinched. The marriage between our tanks and the building has been made!

Water Independence is a beautiful thing to behold.

Laurie

The EcoCenter Roof is Ready for Birds!

The Electrical Vines of the EcoCenter

I wanted to share with you all a sneak peak of our beautiful vines that the amazing team at the Box Shop and All Around Electric are constructing for the EcoCenter. These leaves are central to a network of welded native California Pipe Vine Coverings for the exposed electrical conduit. The team has been workin for over three months to cut, weld, buff, and shine all of the vines and leaves!

The entire art project is being headed off by Haideen Anderson, my personal art hero and political ally for over fifteen years and it is an honor to work with her and see her in her glory!

The vines will be able to provide a beautiful illustration of how electricity is distributed-via branch distribution. Stay tuned, the leaves and vines are gorgeous and will be ready for the opening!

Laurie

Wow--there is a pond on the Living Roof!

EcoCenter Opens on People's Earth Day

Friends:

I am so proud to announce our grand opening on People's Earth Day this Year.

We still have our fair share of work before us over the next 20 days, and thanks to our partner team Habitat Gardens we are bring the classroom to life!

Stay Tuned and spread the word!

Laurie

EcoCenter Featured in San Francisco Magazine!

Our Living Roof is Coming to Life!

I am so happy to report that the underlayment for the EcoCenter Living Roof is online! Last week we sprayed on the membrane which sealed all and any potential penetration or imperfection in the roof structure--ensuring no water penetration will run inside the roof or building. This is the first and most important step to creating a long-term sustainable living roof system. This week the Habitat Gardens team laid down the two sets of underlayment liners which provide additional absorption of water for plant life and act as an additional water and root barrier. We also installed the irrigation system which is comprised of 1 inch drip tubing laid into the underlayment of the roof and is attached to a series of small manifolds. 2 inches of Drainage rock was blown onto the roof which provides a drainage base for the roof. Lastly 3-4 inches of high quality Mulch was applied to the roof. Yesterday we were blessed with rain and tommorow we plant!

Its been an extraordinary journey for me on this project. There was a time that we had to value engineer our living roof out--and thanks to President Obama's efforts to support green building in our community, we now have our roof back on line! Its a wonder to experience our living roof come to life in our community--as the only vegetative roof in the southern waterfront community, I hope this sets a powerful model for future development in BVHP and sister EJ communities throughout the region. I am so pleased that we have been able to greenscape any potential hardscape that the building brings to the park. We will soon be able to host an entire new set of habitat on our roof! Stay tuned!

Laurie